Jamaican allegedly involved in region's biggest bust ever

By Robert Gavin

Published 12:00 am, Friday, March 28, 2014

A fugitive who had been wanted since October for his reputed role in the largest drug bust in Capital Region history was caught in Brooklyn.

Oneil McKenzie, 29, a Jamaican national, was arrested Wednesday by members of the New York/New Jersey Regional Fugitive Task Force of the U.S. Marshals Service after he was spotted driving a Mercedes-Benz SUV at Rockaway Parkway and Avenue N in Brooklyn's Canarsie section.

McKenzie was carrying about $300,000 in cash, according to a person with knowledge of the investigation.

He is accused of using an Albany woman to help import large shipments of cocaine and marijuana that together had a street value estimated at more than $3 million.

McKenzie was arraigned in U.S. District Court in Brooklyn on a charge of possession with intent to distribute more than five kilos of cocaine.

U.S. Marshals and DEA agents had been hunting McKenzie since an arrest warrant was issued on Oct. 28.

The case included the Albany and Brooklyn divisions of the regional fugitive task force; the Albany DEA office; the U.S. Marshals Service Foreign Field Office in Kingston, Jamaica; Albany County prosecutors and New York City police.

"This case represents the hard work and dedication of several law enforcement agencies to bring a dangerous fugitive to justice," said David McNulty, the U.S. Marshal for the Northern District of New York in a statement.

On Oct. 3, according to a federal complaint, undercover agents saw a person pick up 11 packages at a UPS store and drop them off at a storage unit at Mabey's Moving and Storage in Rensselaer. Just after noon the next day, they were watching the storage facility when McKenzie — who had rented a unit — arrived in a Jeep Grand Cherokee.

The agents followed McKenzie as he stopped at a town house apartment at 6707 Oak Hill Circle in North Greenbush and then drove to Albany, where he approached two men. Two Albany police officers then confronted McKenzie, who they said dropped his car keys into the engine compartment of a nearby car with a raised hood. McKenzie then showed the officers a California driver's license with the name "Darrin James Clark." He drove away in another car and left the SUV behind.

At the time, police had not been able to tie McKenzie to any drug charges.

But after he drove away, a police dog alerted officers to the probable presence of drugs in the Grand Cherokee. DEA agents obtained a search warrant and found 56 kilos of marijuana packed in boxes inside the vehicle, the complaint says. Soon after, agents raided the North Greenbush townhouse apartment, where Forney had allegedly delivered packages to McKenzie. She told investigators that for three years she had been paid $1,000 each time she picked up boxes for McKenzie at the local UPS store.

At the apartment, DEA agents said they found 60 kilos of cocaine packaged in boxes and buckets. And, a few days later, authorities said the task force seized 200 more pounds of marijuana from a UPS depot in Latham, which they said they believe would have been delivered to McKenzie.

The cocaine was valued by law enforcement officers at about $2 million, the single largest cocaine seizure in the Capital Region, Albany County Assistant District Attorney Francisco Calderon said.